Video playback, import, and export

Video files play in the Video view in real time as your project plays. You can also view your video on an external DV device connected to an IEEE 1394 port (“FireWire”).

The File > Import > Video command lets you include the following video file types in your project:

AVI (also called Video for Windows).

MPEG-2

MPEG-4/H.264

Windows Media Video.

QuickTime (encoded as H.264/ .m4v or MPEG-4 only). Sonar supports QuickTime 7, including H.264 support and the ability to import AAC audio files.

The File > Export > Video command lets you export your audio tracks and your imported video as the following file types:

Note: Some .mov and .avi files contain no video. You can’t import these files with the File > Import > Video command. You must use the File > Import > Audio command instead, and set the Files of type field to All Files.

AVI (also called Video for Windows)

Windows Media Video

QuickTime

Sonar also has a Video Thumbnails pane at the top of the Track view, which shows individual frames of your video at different places in your project (See Using the Video Thumbnails pane for more information).

You open the Video view by using the Views > Video command. The Video view displays the Now time (as in the Big Time view) and the video itself. The display in the Video view is synchronized with the Now time, giving you convenient random access to the video stream. This makes it easy to align music and digitized sound to the video.

Commands in the Video view’s right-click pop-up menu let you set the time display format, the size and stretch options for the video display, the video start and trim times, and other options.

QuickTime issues

In order to import/export QuickTime files in Sonar, you must install both the filters AND QuickTime. The following are some other known QuickTime issues:

It is presently only possible to export QuickTime videos on a 32-bit system. This is a limitation of QuickTime, not Sonar.

QuickTime Import/Export requires version 6.5.1 or higher of the QuickTime Player to be installed. The QuickTime Player is not included with Sonar, but can be downloaded separately from Apple's website (www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html).

Audio mixdown to QuickTime must be set to 16 bits stereo or mono, or the resulting export will create a unusable file or abort with an error.

Audio mixdown to QuickTime must be set to 48 KHz or less or the resulting export will create a file that plays back incorrectly.

When exporting to QuickTime, the frame rate of the QuickTime video compressor will default to “best possible”. Since not all movies in a Sonar video project correctly report their frame rate, the best practice is manually enter the desired frame rate. This is done in the video settings of the QuickTime video compressor.

Exports to QuickTime from a Sonar video project created from an AVI using the Indeo video compressor will create a movie with white frames.

Exports to QuickTime may have an extra white frame on the last frame of the movie. This extra frame can be removed with the QuickTime Pro Player or another QuickTime editing application.

 

See:

Importing and playing back videos

Optimizing video performance